MSC - Midi Show Control

The following functionality is only available for the Pro models.

Cognito can receive and act upon standard MIDI Show Control (MSC) strings sent by show control devices, including sound consoles.  Cognito can also send MIDI strings whenever a Cue, Memory or Scheduled Event  is activated.  To send or receive MSC, make sure you turn on Allow MSC in PLAY | PLAYBACK | OPTIONS.

MIDI communications use the MIDI standard 5-pin DIN connector.  See the Rear Panel connections in Hardware Overview.

Midi Show Control (MSC) uses the following format:

All numbers are octet, hexadecimal values, sometimes denoted by the “H” symbol.

F0 7F:  indicates start of System Exclusive (sysex) real-time command

Device_ID:  specified which connected device should execute the command. Cognito uses 01 as its Device_ID

02:  indicates ‘sentence’ is MIDI Show Control (MSC) command

Command Format:  typically 01 (for “Lighting – General”)

Command:  specifies the action to be taken – see below for supported commands

Data:  specifies, if desired, the Cue Number to be used by the command and, optionally, the Playlist containing the Cue.  Data string cannot exceed 24 bytes in length. See below for examples.

F7:  indicates end of MSC ‘sentence’. Required.

Commands and Data Format

Commands are stated by octet, hexadecimal numbers and may be followed by a data string with specific Cue Number and Playlist information.  If no Playlist is specified, Cognito uses the first Playlist.  If no Cue Number is specified, the next cue in numeric sequence or the current cue (depending on the command) will be used.  Data format is described below.

01 [GO]

Starts the transition or fade to a cue. Equivalent to pressing the GO button.  Transition time is determined by the fade time recorded in the cue.

If a Cue Number is specified in the data string, that cue will be triggered.  If no Cue Number is specified, the next cue in numerical sequence will be triggered.  Transitions "run" until complete. To define or override the transition time, use the TIMED_GO command instead (see below).

Note:  GO Cue 0 (zero) is equivalent to Release Playlist.

02 [STOP]

Halts all currently running transitions in the current Playlist.  Equivalent to pressing the PAUSE button.  A cue number may be specified, in which case only the specified cue will be halted.

03 [RESUME]

Causes any transitions halted due to a STOP command to continue running. Equivalent to pressing the GO button after pressing PAUSE.  A cue number may be specified, in which case only the specified cue will be resumed.

04 [TIMED_GO]

Starts a timed transition or fade to a cue using a transition time sent in the data string.  The use of this command is not recommended, as all cues in Cognito have fade times.

Transition time stated using Standard Time Specification in “hr mn sc fr ff” format (hour minute second frame fractional frame).  Translating time, frames and fractional frame counts to the Standard Time Specification is beyond the scope of this document.

If a Cue Number is specified in the data, that cue is triggered. If no Cue Number is specified, the next cue in numerical sequence is triggered. Transitions "run" until complete.

0A [RESET]

Is equivalent to releasing all Playlists.  No data string should be sent with a reset command.

Data Format

Cue numbers and Playlist numbers are stated using the hexadecimal equivalents (30H through 39H) of the ASCII values for numbers 0-9 (zero through nine).

MSC allows the use of point cues, using the hexadecimal value (2EH) for the ASCII decimal point character used to mark subsections. However, Cognito does not use point cues, regardless of how the cue is labelled. Cue numbers are always whole number (indexed from 1 at the top of the Playlist).

Selection of a specific Playlist is optional.  A Cue Number must be used when a Playlist is specified.  Cognito uses a 'best-match' method to determine the Playlist name based on the label. For example, a Playlist named "01-Main" would be referenced by MSC as Playlist 1 or 31H.

The hex code “00” is used to delimit between Cue Numbers and Playlist Numbers, and is only required if a Playlist is specified.

Examples

<On Device 1, GO next Cue in current Playlist>

F0 F7 01 02 01 01 F7

<On Device 1, GO Cue 45 in Playlist 12>

F0 7F 01 02 01 01 34 35 00 31 32 F7

<On Device 1, STOP current cue>

F0 7F 01 02 01 02 F7